The Little World

Inside every silver lining is a cloud.

My week building the Beechnut Models CAC Wirraway into a Swedish NA 16 trainer was a humbling experience. No, that is not quite right – that should be ” bumbling “. With a kit this bad you are feeling your way from the start – over a carpet of broken glass and gravel.

The parts are crudely moulded, badly misshapen, and warped. The good parts have flash and the bad ones have sinkholes and the only high point is there are no decals to pierce the eye.

Fortunately there were two kits donated – one could pick and choose for marginally better parts. One could cement one seam, clamp the others, and apply styrene sheet, sprue goo, and fillers to try to blend the rest.

The wings are roughly equivalent to ironing boards with ailerons. The tailplanes by themselves are similar, but their mountings are in two separate planes either side of the rudder. Note that the rudder would not be out of place on a dreadnought.

But it does go together; the end result can be made to resemble another of the North American products – in this case the NA 16 supplied to Sweden as a trainer. The startling colour scheme is real – the Swedes have taken the parts of a full-size Wirraway and a Yale and built a replica NA 16 for their own aero museum. It looks good.

In the end, there is only so much you can make with a sow’s ear – wise people make a painted sow’s ear and are content with that. I’ve decided to mount the lot on a display base and present it as the Kit O’ Doom for 2025. Others may wish to follow for 2026.

I am confident that there are candidates out there for the honour.